The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems and methods for fabricating sheet products.
Sheet products may be fabricated using a variety of methods. In many fabrication methods, the sheet product has a high moisture content (moisture to fiber ratio) in early stages of the process. The sheet product may be dried using a variety of methods to lower the moisture content and increase the tensile strength of the sheet product.
In some fabrication processes, the sheet product may be relatively thin, resulting in a low tensile strength when the moisture content in the sheet product is high. In such processes, a textile backing cloth or fabric having a relatively high tensile strength may be mechanically bonded to or in contact with the moist sheet product. The use of the textile backing cloth contacting the moist sheet product allows the moist sheet product to undergo a variety of mechanical and chemical automated processes that include, for example, exerting tension with rollers or other mechanical devices while avoiding damaging or tearing the moist sheet product.